[JayW UK]

2036 Season Notes

Pre-season – Kansas City reached out to former OKC first round pick Stephen Hart and offered him a minor league contract, giving him a second chance after his DUI arrest the previous year. For his part Hart brought talent to a farm system sorely missing young catchers and he vowed to not stray again and to repay the faith shown in him by Kansas City.
After underwhelming in spring training, young Baltimore pitcher Corvin Curry (the Bulls 1st round pick from 2032) found himself off the roster and on waivers, Seattle obviously saw something in him snapping him up and adding him to their burgeoning core of young pitchers.
April 4th – Charlotte pitcher Jim Jacques opened the season in style, hurling a NO-HITTER while striking out 11 against St. Louis, he was denied a perfect game by an uncharacteristic error from star 3B Brandon Townsend.
April 8th – St. Louis CF Jamal Henson hit for the CYCLE and collected 4 RBI’s, playing an instrumental part in the Reds 6-5 victory over Atlanta.
April 9th – Baltimore’s ageless star Dixon Bodean collected hits 3999 and 4000 of his career as the Bulls upended New York 6-4.
April 10th – Indianapolis’ star LF Jose Cintron collected the 300th homerun of his career in style, slamming a 2-run walk-off homer to give the Racers a 7-6 victory over Tampa Bay.
April 11th – St. Louis pitcher Les Scott had a field day against Detroit, striking out 15 batters as the Reds won comfortably.
April 14th – Boston’s off-season acquisition, SS Mario Cristo suffered a fractured hand when he was hit by a pitch from Baltimore’s Rajion Samit, ruling Cristo out for upto six weeks.
April 27th – San Jose LF Roberto Gonzales showed off his speed swiping four bases against Omaha, however his efforts were in vain as the Braves held off San Jose to win 4-3.
April 29th – Washington’s Richie Rambeaux struggled at the plate against New York, going 1-for-5 with four strikeouts, but that lone hit was the 2500th of his illustrious career.
May 21st – San Diego held Las Vegas RF Danny Wheeler hitless in four at-bats, ending Wheelers hitting streak at 30.
May 24th – with the team sitting at 15-30 and suffering from the mother of all World Series hangovers, Dallas ownership chose drastic action as the way forward, firing manager Hugh Little. In a surprising move, relatively unknown college coach Marlon Davis was named as Little’s replacement.
May 31st – Tampa Bay’s rotation lost one of its most reliable veterans for the season when Nick Grant suffered a partial UCL tear, at the time of the injury Grant was a solid 5-2 with a 3.82 ERA.
June 5th – Kansas City reclamation project Stephen Hart managed to get himself arrested on a DUI charge (his second such charge in less than a year) to compound his mistake he was also charged with possession of class A drugs and illegal firearms. Kansas City immediately cancelled his contract and in an unprecedented move, league commissioner Buddy McHugh suspended Hart from the NABL indefinitely.
June 12th – Indianapolis pitcher Will Christopher collected strikeout victim number 2500 in the Racers 7-4 victory over Dallas.
June 18th – St. Louis fireballer Les Scott struck out 15 Cleveland batters in eight innings of work, only for the bullpen to blow the game in extra innings.
June 19th – St. Louis pitchers certainly liked playing Cleveland, as this time McKenzie Ransford racked up an NABL record 19 K’s as the Reds gained revenge for their defeat the previous day.
June 21st – Boston SS Mario Cristo hit the DL again, this time with a knee injury which would keep him out until early August if the doctors were to be believed.
June 22nd – New Orleans 1B Rick Flynn saved his best for last, belting a walk-off Grand-Slam to give the Blues a 7-3 victory over Miami.
June 24th – Oklahoma City star LF Jesus Alarcon suffered a freak injury, dislocating his shoulder when swinging the bat, the injury was severe enough to land him on the DL for the next three months.
June 26th – Houston SS Hector Soto had a huge day against Boston, going six-for-six at the plate, hitting a pair of doubles and a homerun while driving in three. Unfortunately, Boston had the last word winning the game 8-7.
June 27th – Hector Soto had another big game against Boston, collecting four hits and 6 RBI’s while slamming a pair of homeruns, more importantly this time Houston held off Boston 9-7 to claim victory.
June 29th – Charlotte closer Josh Renshaw racked up his 300th career save, striking out Washington’s Richie Rambeaux with the bases loaded as Charlotte held on for a 5-2 victory.
July 6th – Houston LF Robert Harris hit for the CYCLE including the game winning 3-RBI homerun to lift the Stars over Oklahoma City.
July 7th – after his successful debut season in Rookie ball, Austin’s first round draft pick (#3 overall) Lucious Sandford was promoted to A ball and through his first three games he did not look out of place. Disaster struck for him as pain in his elbow ended his fourth game just six pitches in, and after a visit to the team doctor, he was diagnosed with bone spurs in his elbow ending his promising season.
July 10th – with his performances not living up to expectations and with their season looking likely to be a big disappointment, Washington chose to move on from big off-season signing Jamie Boden, sending him to San Diego in return for RF Adam Hardesty and relief pitcher Ken Cortinas.
July 15th to August 10th – New Orleans pitcher Jose Ibanez threw 36 consecutive scoreless innings including two complete game shutouts, setting an NABL record.
July 17th – Holden Willis, Las Vegas’ staff ace left the Gamblers matchup with Houston with an apparent leg injury, MRI scans the following day revealed a torn hamstring ruling Willis out until mid-September at the earliest.
July 20th – Austin’s slugging RF David Barnett hit his 300th career homerun, a three-run blast in the ninth inning, lifting the Kings to an unlikely 4-3 victory over Las Vegas.
July 26th – Washington lost another of their off-season signings, this time to injury when 1B Pedro Escoriaza ruptured his achilles tendon ruling him out for the season.
July 29th – Boston star RF Jared Guest drilled his 300th career homerun, helping Boston hold off Charlotte 9-8.
July 31st – LA’s 2B Paco Guzman had a day to remember against Seattle, bashing six hits, including two doubles and a three-run homer as the Lynx crushed the Pioneers 15-4.
August 1st – Sanfrancisco star Andres Romero played a big part in the Gold’s 12-9 victory over OKC, Romero went 3 for 4, collecting a double and a Grand-Slam while driving in eight of Sanfrancisco’s runs along the way.
August 3rd – Seattle 1B Lee Hanson hit four doubles against Kansas City, helping the Pioneers to a 6-3 victory.
August 4th – Philadelphia star Matt Henderson was a big reason why the Independence beat Indianapolis 8-6, drilling three homeruns on the day and driving in six of Philadelphia’s runs.
August 17th – Denver pitcher Pablo Arellano collected the 300th save of his career in the Wildcats 2-1 victory over Houston.
August 22nd – Chicago closer Harvey Widdowes clinched his 300th career save against St. Louis.
August 27th – Charlotte’s Jim Jacques had New Orleans hitters number striking out 15 and carrying a perfect game into the ninth inning, protecting a slim 2-0 lead he was two outs away from what would have been his second No-Hitter of the season when LF Ferry Vogalsang ruined everything by blasting a homerun and instantly cutting Charlotte’s lead in half, Josh Renshaw was summoned from the bullpen to save the game as the Express scraped home 2-1.
September 16th – Boston star Jared Guest slugged three homers and drove in four runs, but his efforts were in vain as Boston fell 11-7 to Dixon Bodean and Baltimore.
September 17th – Boston lost 2B Lucio Rodriguez to a strained oblique, the injury would rule him out until mid-October at the earliest, meaning a return for the World Series would be possible if Boston managed to get that far.
September 18th – San Jose LF Roberto Gonzales suffered a season ending ankle ligament injury, leaving the Spartans to rely on Doug Matthews and Matt Smith for their playoff push.
September 19th – Tampa Bay RF Roy Higgins became the third player of the season to hit for the CYCLE, going a perfect 4-4 with 2RBI’s as the Hurricanes came from behind to beat St. Louis 4-3.
September 23rd – Boston lost another key veteran, SS Mario Cristo again (the third time he had hit the DL on the season) this time to a foot injury, the timetable for return was similar to Lucio Rodriguez meaning Cristo could possibly make a return if Boston made a deep playoff run.
September 24th – Indianapolis LF Jose Cintron drove in his 1000th RBI in his sides 12-3 victory over Cleveland.
September 26th – Washington’s veteran LF Lucio Martinez collected his 1000th career RBI, but there was no celebrating from him as the Generals slumped to a dismal 16-1 loss to New York.
October 1st – Cleveland’s 36-year-old pitcher Duane Jones had another nightmare season (8-18, 6.31 ERA) giving him a 17-43, 5.88 ERA record over his last three seasons.